


Darkness of Psychics

by Sleepy_Writer



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Minor Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-03-06 03:47:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 15,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13402806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sleepy_Writer/pseuds/Sleepy_Writer
Summary: For secrets to be kept, none must find out about them. So what to do when there are people who can do so accidentally? R & E & RCan be considered part of my Sword's Fate-series, but also read alone.





	1. Chapter 1

After everything that had gone down, even a simple dinner was delicious. Just a week ago, the entire world had nearly ended when Team Flare marched on Anistar City – and its' famed Sundial – with a monster of rock and crystal. Had the creature reached the city, all life would have been wiped out.

She sighed lightly at the memory, remembering the end of that battle. It would take the lands between Anistar and the Flare Headquarters a long time to recover from the destruction… But at least they now had the time for such a recovery!

Olympia rose from her seat. Since it was late in the evening, she was no longer wearing her customary outfit, instead wearing a long white nightdress and dark blue bathrobe over it. Her Pokémon had been returned to their Pokéballs and put in the special drawer she had for them and the only thing that kept her from retiring into bed with a good book was a post-dinner clean-up.

"Going to have to wake up early tomorrow though…" She mused, cleaning up her dishes. The walkway out to the Sundial had been repaired and as Anistar's Gym Leader, she was expected to formally unveil it together with Diantha.

However, as she put down the dirty plate in her kitchen, a shudder ran through her body. Her purple eyes widened and her pupils shrunk to mere pinpricks as a vision overtook her. Without the stabilizing assistance of her Meowstic and her zero-gravity cloak however, she half-collapsed against the counter, struggling to remain upright against the mental onslaught of new information.

She saw herself being smashed into a wall she knew well, a dark Pokémon looming over her even as she fell to the ground. To her horror, she could tell that this was a soon future, wearing the clothes she was wearing now and through the window outside seeing the still-closed walkway leading to the Sundial.

Taking several deep breaths, she struggled to get her trembling under control.

 _"Well, that is problematic."_ A deep echoing voice sounded in her head. _"No wonder you are a target."_

Olympia paled, wheeling around to look for the owner of the voice and then gasped at recognizing him; it was the Pokémon from her vision! "What…?" For the first time in a long while, the Psychic-Gym Leader was completely flabbergasted.

 _"A necessity."_ The Pokémon's eyes glowed a bright blue. _"Submit."_

She trembled a touch. Whatever he wanted her to submit to, it could be nothing good if her vision was to be believed… but she wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Her eyes snapped upward. She had to get to her Pokémon!

 _"I was afraid of that."_ She barely managed to dodge the Dark Pulse, the attack smashing into the tiled wall of her kitchen. In horror the Gym Leader realized that whoever this Pokémon was, he was not pulling any punches.

She ran from the kitchen out into the hallway, only to see that same Pokémon rise from the shadows in front of the door leading outside. She had to rather ungracefully jump onto her stairs to avoid another Dark Pulse, losing one of her shoes as she clambered up without a second look back.

Only to nearly be pulled down again when the Pokémon managed to grab her bathrobe, the large fingers burying themselves in the dark fabric. Clinging to the railing with all her might, she couldn't keep from looking back now, shivering at the glowing blue eye glaring at her. _"Relent."_

For a few moments neither moved or said anything, the Pokémon waiting to see what she would do. Then she pulled herself from her bathrobe, leaving it in the Pokémon's grasp as she continued up the stairs.

A third Dark Pulse barely missed her head as she reached the top, the door to her bathroom being smashed of its' hinges. The room itself probably fared little better as the Pokémon appeared at the top of the stairs himself.

However, before the human could get to her office – where she kept her Pokémon over the night – the bookcase in the hallway crashed into the opposite wall, cracking the plaster as it did so.

Olympia cried out in pain; she had managed to jump into the door-opening opposite said bookcase, but her arm had been crushed between the heavy wooden furniture and the wall. Tears filled her eyes as she had to wrench it free, stumbling back into the room while clutching it with a moan of pain.

 _"Do I want to know why this is necessary?"_ A different telepathic voice spoke before the wall beside the door was torn apart telekinetically. It was another strange Pokémon, glowing lightly with psychic powers.

 _"She had a vision. It warned her of my appearance."_ Her original attacker floated through the door-opening, the two of them trapping her in her bedroom.

"What do you even want of me!?" She demanded sharply, backing away until the back of her legs hit the bed. The pain of her probably broken arm was making concentrating on using any of her powers hard to the point of impossible in the current circumstances.

 _"Your soul."_ The new arrival's psychic powers – which had been what had send her bookcase flying – now took control of her body, sending her flying against the wall behind her. A Dark Pulse smashed into her mid-section, knocking the air right out of her.

She nearly cried out in pain again when she fell onto the ground, right onto her hurt arm. A black hand closed around her head almost immediately, throwing her into the middle of the room where she landed in front of the other Pokémon.

It also put her near the new entrance to her bedroom… if she could just… Determined to at least try getting out of this predicament, she pushed herself up to standing and dashed towards the opening. For a second it seemed as if she might have surprised them enough to get the necessary head start to reach her Pokémon, before the first Pokémon rose from the shadows in the hallway, grabbing her face and slamming her down onto the floor of the room.

Half-dazed from the impact, she desperately struggled to free herself of his hold. Her hand was clawing at his wrist, any sound she tried to make muffled by the hand covering almost her entire face easily. The black Pokémon's other hand roughly grabbed her leg, effectively holding the female down.

Her struggling became far more frantic when the other came to float above them, glowing brightly with his powers.

Without another word, he attacked. Olympia's mental defences meant nothing, being swept aside like a gauze-curtain as the Pokémon invaded her mind and started pulling at the very essence of her life.

Purple eyes rolled back into her head as seizures wracked her body, the frantic kicking with her free leg forming a staccato rhythm against the floor. Her screaming became worse, now almost being easily heard through the hand gagging her.

More tears poured from her eyes at both the physical and mental pain.

And then everything just stopped.

The Gym Leader fell slack, eyes still rolled back in her head and her limbs falling powerlessly to the floor. After a short while, the black Pokémon let go from her, returning to floating a bit above the ground.

Both attackers for a while studied the form on the floor and the destruction her flight had caused in the house. Then, by unanimous and silent agreement, they left without a trace.

In Olympia's office, her Pokémon did not have a clue as to what happened to their trainer just a few feet away from them.


	2. Chapter 2

Diantha was meandering down the road to the Anistar Gym, to the left of which was where Olympia's apartment was. They had agreed that before the official unveiling of the Sundial's new walkway at noon, they'd have breakfast together.  
Since it was still early and so few people were around the Gym, the part-time Champion part-time actress had decided to walk from her hotel to her breakfast. Surreptitiously looking around that no one was watching, she stretched leisurely as the gym started coming closer.  
Glancing at the Sundial in the distance, she climbed up the few stairs to the apartment's front door. Frowning a bit, the Champion pushed the doorbell. Normally, that thing was near unused as the psychic usually knew when someone visited her and was waiting at the door for them. "Guess she decided to sleep in…"  
Looking back into the city, she decided to sit on a chair on the front porch that was moderately hidden while waiting for Olympia to get her. Arceus knew swarming by fans could get real problematic for her.  
After a good couple minutes – and several more times ringing – Diantha was getting just a bit concerned. Even if the Anistar Gym Leader was in the shower or something and therefor couldn't come to the door, she'd have made telepathic contact by now to tell her guest so.  
Pulling out her Holo Caster, the actress tried to call her breakfast-partner. When that turned up nothing, she grew worried.  
"Gardevoir." Summoning her trusted Pokémon, she one last time tried the doorbell.  
"Gar?" The white Psychic-type gracefully came closer.  
"Open the door, gently." Olympia would have told her had something come up, or at the very least answered her Holo Caster. Something had to be wrong…  
Her fears were confirmed when she saw the hallway of the apartment. The wall on one side had been stripped from its' wallpaper, some sad strips hanging down. At the bottom of the stairs a shoe lay on the ground and a bit up the stairs something that looked like a bathrobe.  
"Arceus, no." She moved inside a bit. "Olympia!" She had almost expected the answering silence. Taking a few steps to the bottom of the stairs, she could see the destroyed kitchen as well now. What had happened here!?  
"I need Emergency Personnel at the Anistar Gym Apartment at once!" There was a hint of panic in her voice as she almost screamed it into her Holo Caster. "Gardevoir, wait for them at the door!"  
Diantha took the stairs two steps at a time, only stopping when she reached the top. The bathroom opposite her seemed to have exploded, shards of tiles, glass and the large mirror having spilled out into the hallway. There was a crater in the far wall.  
"Olympia?" At least she didn't need to wonder which direction to go, since the collapsed bookshelf was ample hint. Her eyes widened even more when seeing that part of the hallway wall had collapsed. She was almost hoping that the Gym Leader had been distracted by something in the city by now.  
Thanking Arceus that her outfit allowed for freedom of movement, she carefully climbed over the bookcase blocking most of the bedroom door, looking through the opening. Her hoping had been for naught.  
"Olympia!" Diantha had to clamber through the broken wall, cutting her knee when she didn't lift it quite as high as she should have. Hissing at the pain, she stumbled a bit when approaching the prone female.  
Olympia was only clad in her nightgown, the second shoe having been kicked a bit further away. Her eyes were half-closed, showing only a thin stripe of white. In horror, Kalos' most famous actress realized that almost the entire lower-half of the unconscious female's face was bruised and one arm seemed to have gained a new joint.  
"Olympia? Can you hear me?" Flinching a bit when she put weight on her injured knee while leaning forward, Diantha hesitated. She dared not touch the other female in case the broken arm was the least of her injuries. With the brutality the Gym Leader had apparently been pursued through her house, that was a disturbing possibility. In the end, she merely lightly slapped the psychic, hoping to jolt her awake.  
It did nothing. Taking a shuddering breath, she moved to sit marginally more comfortable and pulled a pager from one of her hidden pockets. She had two of those, one for when someone challenged the League and another – the concept implemented only recently – so that Gym Leaders, Elites and she could warn the others in a moment's notice should things occur that required immediate assistance. Diantha was now staring at the second one.  
"Olympia getting attacked like this certainly warrants it." She quickly scrolled through the options, landing on the one saying 'All' and pushed the button.  
Behind her a loud peep sounded, Olympia's pager reacting to the alarm. To think the psychic had been so close…  
Getting up, she reached for the flashing piece of technology and turned it off.  
"Champion Diantha!" Someone called from downstairs; the police had arrived.  
"Upstairs, I need medical personnel immediately!" She answered, clutching the pager while waiting for others to arrive. While several immediately rushed to the Gym Leader, one of the medics insisted she go downstairs with him to answer police-questions while he treated her knee. Reluctantly, she obliged, recalling Gardevior as she passed by her Pokémon.  
In worry, she saw that people had realized something had happened, a small group running to the Gym. Two women, both clad in what she recognized as the outfits for Olympia's assistants, were up front. Oh, she would not enjoy this talk.  
"The Gym has to be closed until further notice." Diantha greeted the two women. "Olympia… has been injured." The fact that the Gym Leader had in fact been attacked still wouldn't seem quite real to her. "The other Gyms will have to pick up the slack until… until Olympia can get back to hers." Thank goodness each region had more than the required 8 gyms.  
"What… what happened?" One of them asked, only to cry out at something behind her.  
The white-clad female tried to turn as far as she could without disturbing the man still treating her knee and paled a touch. Olympia was being wheeled out on a stretcher, somehow looking even more vulnerable and hurt than when she had been on the floor of her bedroom. Or perhaps things were finally really registering to the Champion…  
"I don't know yet. I am joining her however." Carefully rising, she tested her wounded knee. "One of you two take care of Olympia's Pokémon. Can I trust you to see to business, even with the Gym being closed?" She smiled weakly when both nodded firmly, despite trembling.  
Diantha climbed into the ambulance, seating herself at Olympia's side while the car slowly started up and drove away.


	3. Chapter 3

Upon arrival at the hospital, Olympia was taken to be treated for her broken arm. Diantha was forced to wait outside the room, sitting on one of the hard-plastic chairs in the waiting-area. 

“Kathi?” She used the time to call her manager. “We need to cancel my time-intensive appointments for a while; something happened.”

“I know.” Kathi’s voice was tight. “I was visiting Valerie for that new outfit for you, remember? I was there when her alarm went off. Speaking of which, we arrived at Olympia’s gym. Where are you?”

“Anistar City Hospital.” Diantha sighed. Joining the ambulance had been a knee-jerk reaction, but she had completely forgotten that the ‘alarm’ only send the location the button was pressed, not where the pager had gone afterwards. “Can you wait for the others to arrive at the Gym and then come over?”

“Alright.” The female on the other side of the phone muttered. “I think it might take an hour until they’re all here. Did you send for the Elites too?”

“I send an ‘all’-alarm.” The Champion muttered. “Trust me, it’s warranted.”

“Considering Olympia’s Gym is on lock-down with police swarming all over and you went to the hospital, I can kinda see that.” Kathi answered. “I’ll call you again when we started moving to you.”

Hanging up, Diantha very uncharacteristically let her head fall forward, leaning on her legs. It had been a mere week since that entire Team Flare mess and already something new popped up?

She started at that thought. Was this some kind of revenge action? Olympia’s visions had been rather important in stopping all that – not to mention she had teleported everyone to Anistar City to stop the Giant Rock – so it would not be inconceivable that some remnant of Team Flare would want to make her pay for that.

Getting up from her seat, she limped over to the door through which the Anistar Gym Leader had been taken. She would have to arrange come kind of police-protection until that was ruled out.  
She just hoped that Olympia would wake soon so they could really figure out what happened. 

Diantha flinched a bit when her stomach started growling. With everything, she had completely forgotten eating something. Slumping a bit, she threw one last glance towards the door before starting to look for some kind of cafeteria – or barring that, just a snack machine. 

An hour later found Kalos’ strongest trainer eating a machine-bought sandwich with bad coffee since the cafeteria wouldn’t open for another two hours when Kathi send her a message to ask where in the hospital she was.

One message later, she threw the remnants in a nearby garbage-bin and moved out into the hallway.

“Diantha!” Valerie was in the front. “What happened to Olympia!?”

“And to your leg.” Kathi added, frowning at the bandage covering Diantha’s knee.

“In short; someone attacked Olympia and beat her up.” Kalos’ Champion answered, leading the way into an unoccupied room for privacy. “Her place is a mess – exploded kitchen and bathroom among others – and I had to climb through a broken-down wall to reach her. That’s where I hurt my knee, by the way.” Taking a deep breath, she continued. “I could tell that her arm was broken and considering the fact that they are still treating her, probably a whole lot more is wrong as well.”

She couldn’t voice exactly what her mind had first flashed to when seeing Olympia on the floor of the Gym Leader’s bedroom.

“Oh merciful Arceus…” Drasna whispered. “What about her Pokémon?”

“She didn’t manage to reach them and it seems they were unable to tell what happened to her.” Diantha sank down on an empty bed. “At least, they were nowhere to be seen – I sincerely doubt they’d leave her if they had left their Pokéballs – and I figure they’d have let me know by now if they had been stolen or something.”

“But they are Psychic-types.” Wulfric pointed out. “One of her Meowstic let Olympia know from half a city away that I had arrived at her Gym early for dinner once. How can they possibly miss their trainer being… being beaten up at most a few rooms away?”

“Beats me.” The actress sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. “I send out an all-alarm because we cannot be certain that Olympia was the last to be attacked.”

“You think this might be some kind of revenge-action by remnants of Team Flare.” Siebold realized. “Malva is hunting them down, but it is conceivable some of them managed to slip away for now.”

“We cannot count on her finding them all before they get to their next target.” Wikstrom darkly stated. “Still, that they would dare…”

“They’re desperate, no doubt.” Grant pointed out from where he was leaning against the wall. “Since the Giant Rock, Malva has been hunting them like a Sharpedo its’ next prey. They’ve been driven into a corner.”

“But you’d expect them to decide to flee, not hang around making themselves bigger targets.” Viola countered. “Right now it’s mostly Malva after them, but this is going to get at the very least the police on their ass as well.”

“Uhm… excuse me?” One of the doctors opened the door slowly. “Is this a bad moment?”

“No, it’s fine.” Diantha walked up to him. “What news do you have about Olympia?”

“Bad news, all things considered.” He held a clipboard. “Physically, she is mostly fine; bruises, a broken arm…”

“But?” Ramos demanded. 

“She is completely unresponsive.” The doctor shook his head lightly. “Whatever happened to her has caused her to fall into a deep coma - we are currently still struggling to find out exactly what caused it, I am afraid. It will be quite a while until she wakes.”

“She’s… comatose?” Korrina echoed in shock. “But…”

“Thank you.” Diantha cut in. “Keep me informed of any changes and findings, if you would.” After he had nodded and left she walked over to the window, looking outside. “Until further notice, all League-challengers are to be turned down, we are going to focus on finding out who is responsible as quickly as possible. Contact Malva and warn her of what happened.”

“I’ll go do that.” Siebold turned on his heel and marched out of the room.

“What about us?” Viola gestured to herself and the other Gym Leaders. “Are we considered targets?”

“Until we know more, yes.” The Champion turned to face the room again. “Have the police in your cities give you some police-protection – again, until further notice.” They nodded in answer.

She was distracted by someone calling her. “Yes?” For a second, she hoped that it was the police with news, but Cynthia’s voice greeted her. Oh right, she was supposed to call the Sinnoh Champion after the unveiling of the Sun Dial.

“Sorry if you called and I didn’t answer.” The black-clad female greeted her, however. “I have been in the hospital for like the past twelve hours.”

“I completely forgot to call you, to be honest.” The actress muttered. “Wait, you were in the hospital? What for?”

“Lucian was attacked.” Cynthia darkly stated. “Like two rooms down from me, in fact. He’s in a coma… why are you snarling in my ear?”

“Call the other Champions.” The woman leaning against a hospital-window. “Conference-call in an hour. Get them out of bed, if need be.”

“Diantha?” Valeria walked up to her. The rest of the people in the room had been unable to hear what Cynthia had been saying and were now quite confused.

“I need to get to the League for a video-call right away.” Diantha put away her phone and headed for the exit. “Sinnoh’s Psychic is down too. There’s no way this was Team Flare.”


	4. Chapter 4

On the way to the Pokémon League, Diantha received a text from Kathi that Olympia’s Pokémon had been put in the care of Wulfric; neither of the Psychic’s assistants felt confident in being able to control the Gym Leader’s no-doubt very upset team for however long their trainer would be in the coma.

Shortly after that, Cynthia send her a text as well, informing her that she had managed to gather most Champions for a conference call in an hour.

The actress limbed rather awkwardly to the office that held the necessary equipment for that, though she was wondering if she should make a quick stop for some painkillers.

“They should be getting on in a bit.” The Sinnoh Champion had already started the call, greeting her colleague with a frown hidden beneath her golden hair. “Hoenn might take a bit longer since Steven needs to get in contact with Wallace first.”

“No problem.” Diantha dropped down on the chair. “Sorry about making you face them.” Time-zones were annoying when things came up that needed all Champions to be together. 

“Most were awake, thank goodness.” Cynthia pulled a mug of coffee from outside of the screen, taking a drink when one of the other screens activated. “Morning, Lance.”

“Not the best moment, Diantha, I have things to attend to, you know.” The Indigo Plateau Champion sighed softly. “I wouldn’t have come had Cynthia not said that it was very important.”

“It is.” Diantha nodded lightly, looking up when her screen of Alder turned on. “Hello, Alder.”

“You won’t believe my day.” Alder muttered darkly. “This better be worth the stress, Diantha.”

Before she could answer, the screen to her right activated. Unlike the others, there were two people on it, rather than only one. Steven and Wallace had both joined the conference-call. “I guess this is not about the Giant Rock, isn’t it?” Hoenn’s Champion mused, absentmindedly playing with his cuff.

“No.” The white-clad female shook her head. “Something happened with me and Cynthia and I want to know if you have the same problem.”

“We’re guys, Di.” Alder rubbed his face. “Sorry, I barely had any sleep. I am running purely on caffeine right now.”

She ignored him, glancing at the other female Champion. The grey eyes had narrowed just a fraction. “Olympia’s down in a coma and so is Lucian.” She looked at the others. “What of your Great Psychics?”

The shocked faces were enough answer.

“I spend the entire night in the hospital since Grimsley found Caitlin unconscious in her rooms last evening.” Alder breathed softly.

“Sabrina’s parents came back from a wedding-anniversary weekend-away to find her unconscious on the floor. They are semi-frantic.” Lance added. “I am still trying to calm them down.”

Almost at once they all turned to the screen showing the Hoenn-representatives. Steven seemed to be looking in horror at the corner of his screen that held his stand-in while he was in Kalos to deal with the Giant Rock-drama.

Wallace had seemingly turned off his microphone and was on the phone, talking frantically with the person on the other side. After a while, he seemed to slump just a fraction, briefly glancing at the camera and raising a thumb before ending the call.

“Well?” Steven demanded just a touch harshly when the microphone came back on.

“They’re fine.” Wallace assured them. “I had to semi-argue with Rachel – their mother – for a bit before she went to check up on them, but Liza and Tate are fine… I asked them to come to the League until we figure this out.”

“That’s a small mercy in this.” Diantha sighed deeply. “So all adult Great Psychics are down, but the kids were spared.” She rubbed her forehead. “For a bit I thought Olympia fell victim to some kind of Team Flare revenge-action for last week, but then Cynthia mentioned Lucian being out too.”

“And that’s about all we know.” Lance muttered. “This is far too widespread for one of our villain teams… they usually don’t bother with other regions, thank Arceus.”

“Not to mention the risk they took.” Steven looked far calmer than just a bit earlier at the news that the twins of Mossdeep were fine. “Isn’t Sabrina capable of turning people into dolls – so to speak? Olympia sees the future and can teleport people from across a region, Caitlin had temperament issues since her emotions were spilling willy-nilly – if I remember properly - and Lucian reads to keep his mind from literally flitting across the region… and that is their special powers. Who would dare risk having all those psychic powers aimed at them in self-defence?”

“Well, Caitlin was ambushed. I don’t think she had a chance to unleash said powers in self-defence.” Alder ran a hand through his hair. “Until he couldn’t wake her up, Grimsley thought she was merely sleeping.”

“Sabrina, from what I have gathered, looked like she had merely collapsed at some point.” Lance crossed his arms.

“Lucian had just slumped against his bookshelf, book still in hand. I think he just fell over while reading.” Cynthia took another drink of her coffee.

“Olympia managed to flee before being overtaken. She’s actually beaten up with a broken arm.” Diantha leaned back lightly. “Perhaps she did get a vision of her attackers; despite that, her Pokémon didn’t notice a thing and she got a good bit through her house.”

“So those anonymous attackers are actually capable of blocking psychic powers. There’s no way they should only fail with the Great Psychic who can see visions of the future without extensive rituals.” Wallace pointed out. “The other three should still have sensed them at some point, not completely miss… whatever happened to them.”

“I think we need to meet up, pronto.” Lance stated. “We also need to look at something for protection, both for the twins as well as the others.”

“My father’s company has almost finished development on stasis-modules.” Steven mused softly. “Perhaps we can meet in Hoenn to look at those for your downed Psychics and then figure out what to do with this new threat.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics indicate Telepathy

While the Champions prepared to gather in Rustboro City in Hoenn, their Great Psychics woke in a place none of them had even dreamed off.

 

Olympia was the last to wake, her mind having taken the most damage from having been transferred there.

 

 _“We were worried that you wouldn’t wake.”_ A soft female’s voice whispered in her mind. _“You had so much damage.”_

 

 _“My mind feels like it.”_ Currently, the aftermath of the psychic damage manifested as a migraine.

 

All four were on a small island, floating in nothingness. Other islands floated around them, water and plants refusing to obey the laws of physics and nature.

 

Much to the frustration of those capable of registering it, unlike most incidents of out-of-body experiences, this one was what psychics called a ‘bare essentials’-incident. In other words, they were in a state of new-birth; having taken only their bodies.

 

 _“Let us take some of your pain.”_ The only male of the small group offered, resting some fingers on her head. The other two females joined him and between the four of them the pain was reduced to a minor headache for each of them.

 

 _“That was not what I was planning for my afternoon.”_ Kalos’ Psychic muttered, pushing herself up to sitting. It was surprisingly easy considering this form was spectral. _“Where are we?”_

 

 _“I remember this from something Cynthia told me…”_ Lucian mused, hesitantly opening his mind a bit to share the memory with the other three. _“The Distortion-world. Giratina’s world.”_

 

 _“What the hell…”_ Sabrina crossed her arms, a wave of annoyed anger spreading from her for a moment, before she realised what she was doing and hemmed it in. _“Okay, this whole having-to-actively-shield is going to get annoying fast, I can already tell.”_

 

 _“Back to the matter at hand.”_ Caitlin was sitting the most curled up from them, using her long and voluminous hair to hide her body. _“We’re in a different dimension?”_

 

 _“It certainly doesn’t look like anything in ours.”_ Olympia’s moon-crested hair just fell down in waves here, framing her face. _“I sense no life aside from us.”_ Her pupils were pinpricks as she briefly glowed with psychic power.

 

 _“That might well be because we are weakened.”_ The pale-purple haired male lifted his head a touch, tilting it back. _“I feel nothing of our union.”_

 

All three could agree with him about that. _“I wonder why we are here…”_ The pale-golden haired female finally stated the obvious question. _“I went to take a short nap before our League opened up for challengers and woke up here instead.”_

 

 _“It was some Legendaries.”_ Olympia stated darkly, carefully opening her mind to share the memory of what had happened to her with the others. Much like Lucian earlier, she had to struggle at keeping her mind from spilling everything out.

 

 _“I recognize that Psychic-type.”_ Sabrina’s eyes narrowed a bit. _“Mewtwo; a Creation of Team Rocket, clone of Mew. It caused trouble a couple years back and then disappeared.”_

 

 _“And the other one is Darkrai, the Lord of Nightmares, a Sinnoh-native Legendary.”_ Lucian added. _“Why would they do this though?”_

 

 _“Necessity.”_ It was a different voice that reached them, another presence settling in their minds. _“As we already told Olympia.”_ Mewtwo rose from what seemed beneath the platform, glowing with his own psychic power. His tail flicked back and forth as he alighted in front of them. _“That is all you need to know.”_

 

 _“Excuse me!?”_ The Kanto Gym Leader screeched _. “I know for a fact that my body is no longer functioning with me being here, and my parents are due to get home from a weekend away! I have a right to know why they run the risk of finding me comatose.”_

 

 _“They already have.”_ He dryly countered her, unimpressed by the waves of anger no longer held at bay by her body but spilling out freely over her surroundings. _“All four of you have already been found. They are taking precautions to secure your bodies until your return to them.”_

 

They paled at that, fearing how the people they cared about would have reacted to finding their bodies completely unresponsive. Both Olympia and Sabrina had the added horror of them being found after a chase through her home that had destroyed parts of said home and by her parents respectively.

 

None of them even wanted to think about how their Pokémon would take this. They had all kept a regular and close mental connections to their teams and dared not consider how they’d react to having lost that certainty.

 

 _“You will have to stay here until things have been dealt with.”_ Mewtwo shielded himself from the flood of emotions of the humans with ease. _“I will be watching you to ensure you won’t cause trouble.”_

 

It was as he was turning to leave that Caitlin remembered something. _“Wait!”_ She shrunk back under his gaze when he looked at her. _“Are you taking all Great Psychics?”_ After all, she knew for a fact that only Alola had no Great Psychic yet… which raised the question of what had happened to the ones not here; Hoenn’s.

 

 _“Liza and Tate were spared since we did not wish to put children through this. They have been dealt with however, and pose no threat.”_ The Legendary informed them coolly. _“Nor do regular Psychics, for that matter.”_ He added in an aside to Sabrina.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been quite the discussion to allow her to move a comatose person to an entirely different region, but in the end she managed to get the okay.

It took a few days, but all Champions and their unconscious Great Psychics had gathered in Rustboro City.

“And you are sure these are safe?” Cynthia demanded, looking at her Elite in a glass tube.

“Yes.” Steven nodded lightly, briefly gesturing to Olympia who unlike the other three was still just on a hospital-bed. “She’s the only one who might have trouble. We ran human tests, but never when they were injured. Which is why we’ll keep her outside the stasis-pod for a while.”

Diantha was sitting on Kalos’ Psychic’s bedside. “What’s going to happen to yours now? They can’t stay at the League for however long this takes.”

“They’ll stay here in Rustboro so we have all Great Psychics in one place for easier protection. I made arrangements for them to switch Gyms with Roxanne so they can even keep their Gym-business going. It’s going to be a bit of a pickle with her job at the Trainer School, but…” Steven shrugged lightly. “I have been assured they’ll arrive later today with Wallace. He hasn’t left their side.”

“I’ll call Sabrina’s father when they do. Maybe the three of them together can figure out what is going on here.” Lance studied the outfit Sabrina had been put in to connect with the stasis-field.

Diantha certainly hoped they would. A nightmare of paperwork and arrangements had followed the news that Olympia was in a coma. She didn’t want to imagine how much worse it was for Cynthia and Alder who had lost Elites to whatever this was.

She remembered the mess when she had ascended from her own Elite-place to Championship. It probably explained why those two looked so much tenser than her and Lance.

Kalos’ Champion checked her phone, noticing that Wulfric had send her a message about how Olympia’s Pokémon were taking everything. Expectably, it was poorly, though he was keeping them under control for now. He did suggest sneaking them to visit her at least once. She’d have to see if that was possible.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Liza and Tate arrived a few hours later, Sabrina’s father having already joined them.

“Something’s very wrong.” Liza stated mere moments after entering the room.

“Beyond the obvious, that is.” Tate promptly added before anyone could call out his sister, looking at the four other Great Psychics. “Perhaps…”

“You sense it too?” The young girl looked up at the man beside her.

“What is it then?” Lance demanded, arms crossed.

“They’re weak.” Sabrina’s father answered him. “Their power is far weaker than it should be.”

“What?” Alder demanded flatly.

“I take it you have not been told…” Tate meandered over to the stasis-tubes, tilting his head while looking at them.

“Exactly what makes a Great Psychic different from a regular one?” Liza finished the sentence her brother had started, climbing onto Olympia’s bed to study the purple-haired female.

“Lucian mentioned something about power-levels?” Cynthia offered, leaning on the small table at the side of the room.

“In a certain way.” Adam, Sabrina’s father, spoke up. “The greatest difference is what happens when they work in concert with other Psychics.”

“If ‘normal’ Psychics work together, their power merely adds up.” Liza shifted to sit more comfortably, her feet hanging down.

“Two Psychics together can do the heavy lifting of two Psychics, et cetera.” Tate climbed up beside his sister.

“But if a Great Psychic gets involved, the power increases exponentially.” The older Psychic continued. “Right now, with these two and me here – and several Psychic-type Pokémon in their Pokéballs, instead of us being able to do the lifting of three Psychics…”

“Or two, depending on how you count us.” The twins interjected.

“We could do the lifting of… four or five, I’d say?” Sabrina’s father allowed himself a small shrug. “It’s a bit hard to quantify.”

“Being around four other Great Psychics and several ‘regular’ ones therefor should allow us to work wonders…” Liza looked back to the female whose bed she was sitting on.

“But we do not sense them.” Tate gestured around the room, pulling up his legs. “It’s as if they are not here.”

“The fact that they are comatose should not matter.” Adam’s mien darkened, for obvious reasons. “Since their souls, that which gives power, should still be here.”

“Are… are you telling us that they… they are _dead_?” Cynthia demanded sharply.

“No.” Tate shifted on the bed, leaning half over Olympia. “We sense their life. They are alive…”

“But not _here._ Their bodies are here, enough of their spirits to keep those functioning is here, but the bulk of their minds?” The female twin’s gaze trailed to Caitlin in her statis-pod.

“Is not.” Her brother returned to his sitting position.

“Could you contact them regardless?” Diantha wondered. “Olympia must have seen her attackers. If you could contact her, we’d get a whole lot farther than with mere speculation and what ifs.”

The Mossdeep Twins shared a glance. “I suppose we could try.” They looked at the Champions looking at them expectantly. “But we cannot promise anything. Summon your Psychic-type Pokémon. Let us use their power.”


	7. Chapter 7

The two children flanked Olympia, their foreheads resting against her temples as the Psychic-type Pokémon and Sabrina's father were standing a bit to the side. All five were glowing with their power.

In a completely different world, Olympia suddenly felt like someone was trying to squish another brain into her head.

"Olympia?" The four had spread out a bit after Mewtwo had dropped his bombshell and promptly left. Considering all of them still struggled with the whole shielding-thing, it didn't take the other three long to notice that something was up.

"My head…" She collapsed, her eyes rolling away as she desperately tried to do her part in keeping the connection going.

"Let us help you." They rushed up to her, taking the place her Meowstic would have had in stabilizing her.

"Ask your questions quickly." Tate ground out. "We do not know how long we can hold this. They are weak."

"Who did this?" Diantha demanded promptly. "Who attacked you?"

For a few moments it seemed like she would not be getting an answer.

"We see Pokémon. They recognize them." Liza's hand resting on the pillow tightened. "Darkness and unnaturalness."

"Any chance for something more specific?" Steven wondered, moving closer a bit.

"It is hard." The boy-Psychic almost snarled into the unconscious female's neck. "We are having the utmost trouble just reaching her, let alone communing with her."

"And that is with the other three assisting her. We feel them as well." His twin-sister added. "We see flowers the size of trees."

"Water floats like an escalator."

Cynthia's eyes narrowed at that; it was starting to sound rather distinctive and like something she remembered. "Can you…"

Something caused the two children to jerk violently, gasps escaping from their lips.

At the same moment, the window into the room shattered into a million pieces, something invisible bowling over Lance and Alder without a second thought.

A Pokémon manifested, hands closing around the collars of the two on the bed and yanking them away from Olympia. Just as their hands disconnected from her, Kalos' Great Psychic was struck by a seizure, rattling her bed with the force her body shook.

"Olympia!" Diantha rushed forward, though by the time she actually reached her friend, the seizure had stopped and the Anistar City Gym Leader lay slack upon the bed.

"What the hell just happened!?" Alder demanded, shaking himself to remove the glass-shards from his hair while looking at the red Pokémon still holding Moss Deep's Gym Leaders.

"Latias." Steven recognized the Pokémon in question.

The Legendary in question ignored him, turning her golden eyes to the two children she still held. "That was foolish."

"We wanted to help." Tate whispered as he was lowered back to solid ground, where he promptly collapsed to his knees.

"What just happened to Olympia!?" The white-clad woman's voice was several octaves higher than it normally was. In front of her, thin trails of blood ran down from the comatose female's mouth.

"Psychic backlash." The dragon folded her arms neatly to her side, ignoring the two Pokémon who seemed to contemplate how to best blast her without harming the humans. "It was meant for these two, but since I pulled them away before it reached them, it had to go elsewhere." Without another word, she turned her attention to the only awake Great Psychics. "Do not attempt this again. I might not be around to save you a second time." The red form gracefully cut through the space between Lance and Alder, disappearing shortly after passing through the window.

"Why was she near here anyway?" Glass crunched underfoot as Cynthia walked up the window to look outside. "I thought you said they lived near Alto Mare, Steven? We're nowhere near that."

"She's still here." Adam spoke up. "That stunt made her stand out like a sore thumb. I can sense her outside."

"Latias won't leave." Liza stood to her full height. "She was right; this was foolish."

"You knew something like this would happen?" Lance crossed his arms, a glower forming on his face.

"Yes." They both nodded, their voices perfectly in unison. "Do you truly think that it is chance that we – the only children – are the ones who dodge this…" Both gestured around themselves. "while the adults did not?"


	8. Chapter 8

They looked at one another. "What do you mean with that?" Lance finally demanded, eyes narrowing as his cloak seemed to billow around his form by his will alone.

"It was no chance." Tate stated, rising from his seat on the floor and brushing aside the glass-shards with a simple psychic sweep of his hand. "Which I think you might have realized already…"

"Considering Legendaries are involved." Liza finished her brother's sentence. "We should have known this would not help."

"Perhaps you should start at the beginning." Steven suggested, noticing that the Dragon-type user is starting to get more than a little frustrated at what is going on. "You knew Latias was here?"

"Not even an hour before Wallace called Mom,…" Liza sighed, looking out the window. "Latias and another Pokémon visited us in our bedroom."

"Incidentally, the other Pokémon is the 'unnatural' one that they showed us." Tate added, climbing back onto Olympia's bed to check up on her.

"They told us that something was going to happen. Something big…" The female twin paced lightly, feeling the weight of the Champion's emotions on her.

"And that Great Psychics were in the way." Her sibling leaned back, eyes narrowing at the feelings slowly permeating the room.

"And you didn't feel like you needed to tell us?" Alder's voice was quite a bit sharper than he might have liked it to be. "What else do you know!?"

"Alder." Diantha sharply warned her colleague.

"He has cause." The young Psychics countered softly, speaking perfectly in sync. "Far more than we can tell you. Unless you wish us to suffer this fate as well?" They spoke it calmly, but under the words lay the quiet power that always seemed to be held by the Great Psychics. "If it helps, from what we gathered, they will be fine."

"Any idea how long this will take?" Adam wondered, looking between his daughter and the two children.

"No." They shook their heads.

"Thank you." Cynthia told them, interrupting the others from speaking. "You should take rest."

Their eyes narrowed at her, but they acquiesced and left.

"We should have tried to get more out of them." Lance was standing with arms crossed, watching through the window as the three Psychics headed down the street to the house they'd be staying at.

"And risk two children ending up like this?" Steven gestured around him.

"Not to mention I think I might already know where they are." Cynthia spoke up. "Flowers growing 'into' the ground? Water flowing against gravity? It's the Distortion World."

"Wait, 'distortion world' as in Giratina's world?" Alder demanded in disbelief. "As in, the realm of the Pokémon that is said to have been banished from this world for being so bloody violent?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

In said Distortion World, the spirits of the adult Great Psychics are recovering from having forcefully torn from their mental conversation. Even in normal circumstances, that would have been uncomfortable, so weakened as vulnerable as they were right now, it had hurt.

 _"At least it was you getting the backlash."_  Mewtwo had been true to his word, having been nearby and quickly sensing the established connection between his 'guests' and the outsiders.  _"Latias has informed me she pulled the twins away before the backlash reached them."_

 _"I couldn't tell."_ Lucian countered with what could only be called annoyance in any other man's voice.  _"I sensed that they knew more than they let on."_

 _"As said, they posed the same problem as you four did. They had to be dealt with in a different way."_  The Psychic-type Legendary touched down, pulling Olympia to standing.

 _"I do sincerely hope we'll find out at some point why this is necessary."_  She pulled her arm free, putting distance between her and the Pokémon. A wave of anger flooded out briefly before she caught and contained it.

 _"That is really not up to me."_  Mewtwo flatly countered, his eyes trailing to Giratina passing overhead… or what seemed like overhead in this dimension.  _"Perhaps you'll see… perhaps you won't."_

He took to the air, floating away with his tail flicking behind him, leaving the four humans to their own devices once more. This time, they had no doubt he'd still be around.

 _"What a mess."_  Sabrina joined the other Gym Leader in studying their surroundings.  _"Do you think they'll come for us?"_

 _"If they can find out where we are, certainly."_  Lucian remained on the ground where he had collapsed.  _"Aside from personal stakes, we're members of their Leagues. They have no choice but to get certainty about our fates."_

 _"I can see Cynthia just storm in here and try to take Giratina and Mewtwo on with just her Garchomp."_  Caitlin managed to chuckle softly at the mental image. Her hair cloaked her like a blanket, hiding her frail form from view.

_"We'll see, I have no doubt."_


	9. Chapter 9

However, between the need to keep the mess secret from the public as much as possible and the problem as to how to face Giratina openly, the Champions were forced to – at least for a time – return to their own regions before heading to Sinnoh.

"How are they?" Diantha was speaking with Wulfric, wondering at the state of Olympia's Pokémon. From what she had already gathered, they had been very upset at not only their trainer being in a coma, but also having completely missed how she had gotten into that state.

"I have them under control, for now." The Ice-type trainer stated, looking tense even through the hologram of the Holo-caster. "But this has really hit them hard; particularly her Meowstic. You should have seen them when I called them from their Pokéballs and informed them of what happened."

"I'll see about getting you a flight to Rustboro to have them at least see her." Diantha leaned back lightly in the seat of her helicopter. "While we're talking already, what about Malva?"

"From what I heard, she's still after Team Flare, but calls regularly now. She claims the Team Flare-members she has managed to capture do not know who attacked Olympia."

"As expected." The Champion looked outside the window. "We'll talk later." They broke the connection, leaving the white-clad female to sigh in frustration at everything. They had agreed to meet within the week at the Sinnoh League Castle and she could only hope that it would be soon enough.

"Something big is going to happen… and the Great Psychics are in the way." She repeated the statement of the Psychic twins three days ago, hoping that perhaps repeating it again would reveal something to her. What could possibly be happening that something like this would happen? As far as she knew, this had to be one of the first times the Legendaries did something like this. Certainly the first time during her life-time…

"Welcome back." Drasna greeted her. "How did it go?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Psychics spend their time in contemplation and silent meditation. Without their powers at full strength, they are confined to the one island they had woken.

Mewtwo visited them regularly, mostly to make sure they were not in contact with anyone. He needn't have bothered; after the first attempt, the twins – the only ones with enough strength to do so – had not tried again.

They could not tell how long it had been until he returned looking almost angry.

By sheer necessity – and no small bit of near Stockholm Syndrome – they were striking up a strange kind of comradery, fuelled by the knowledge that none of them were quite happy with what was going on.

 _"I feel your unease."_  Despite not being at full strength, the lack of barriers was forcing them to finetune their powers. Caitlin looked up at the looming Legendary, noting with a twinge of trepidation that Giratina was guarding them from a distance. By now, she had become more comfortable with the others seeing her bare, though she would still sit curled up.  _"What is wrong?"_

 _"Your Champions move to reclaim you."_  The Psychic Legendary's tail flicked behind him like a whip. His moved and even thoughts were tense like a bowstring.  _"Which is a problem."_

 _"So what does that mean?"_ Sabrina wondered.  _"What will you do?"_

 _"We have no choice but to stop them. If they reclaim you now, everything will have been for naught."_  His bulbous fingers reached out to them.  _"We'll talk later about this, no doubt, but for now I need to secure you four."_

None of them looked happy at that statement, but they had quickly learned that resisting would just end with them suffering of a massive headache at best.

As his power overwhelmed them, Giratina started moving closer. "So where to, my Lady?" Purple eyes looked up at the Basilisk.

"Leave them at my brother's." Blood-red eyes flashed briefly as the serpentine body twisted in mid-air. "You will attend me in Turnback. I'd much prefer not having to murder the lot of them."


	10. Chapter 10

“I just so hope that no one starts wondering why we’re here.” Lance muttered, grabbing the drink he had been sipping on while waiting for the other Champions to arrive. A few minutes earlier, Diantha had arrived as the last one.

“Well, we can explain that away by having a meeting about how to compensate for the Psychic’s absence.” Alder played with his necklace absent-mindedly. “Even without the public knowing about the involvement of Legendaries, that is important enough to warrant us to meet up.”

“On that note, are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay with yours, Steven?” Cynthia wondered, checking her Pokéballs one last time before heading to the door.

“Well, they claim they are safe, so I might as well help.” Hoenn’s Champion followed his colleague. “Apparently, Latias doesn’t leave Rustboro if I have to believe Adam, though she hasn’t shown herself again.”

They headed down to the helicopter-pad from where they’d head to Sendoff Spring. Diantha dropped down on her seat, fiddling with her phone. Steven had yesterday told her that Olympia’s arm had healed enough that they were willing to also place her in one of the stasis-tubes. Thankfully, he had also informed her that he’d made sure three days from then all the Pokémon could visit their trainers, so she probably should tell Wulfric to take the day off and fly to Hoenn.

Below them, the mountains of Sinnoh passed in a blur as the helicopter headed for a place Cynthia had called ‘Spring Path’. “How long until we get there?” At this point, she was anxious for answers. It’s been two weeks and aside from the drama when they first brought their Great Psychic’s to Hoenn, there had been no information about the hows and whys of… everything.

“Half an hour at this point. Then roughly an hour of walking.” Cynthia answered, tapping her foot on the floor of the helicopter. She looked as tense as Diantha felt. The three men looked mostly annoyed, though that might well be how they hid their worry.

Sinnoh’s Champion tapped the glass, pointing down for them. Diantha leaned over Lance briefly, looking down at a small lake. So that was Sendoff Spring… She wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought she even saw the opening of the cave.

“Not nearly as imposing as you’d think the home of a member of the Creation Trio to be.” Alder mused, plopping back into his seat from where he had been looking down.

“Just wait until we’re inside.” Cynthia sighed, rubbing her forehead. “The place gives people nightmares to navigate, from what I gathered.”

“You’ve never been in it yourself?” Lance wondered, watching with feigned disinterest as the helicopter descended to solid ground.

“I don’t make it a habit of invading the personal space of Legendaries.”

“Didn’t you once tell me you nearly ran over one of mine?” Alder pointed out with a small smirk.

“Not intentionally!”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A small shiver ran down his back. Even from Giratina’s central room, he could sense the determination and willpower of the people that had just entered Turnback Cave. He could also sense the power of their Pokémon.

“ _Not to question, but is it wise to take this risk of facing all of them?”_ Mewtwo looked at the massive dragon beside him. _“They are Champions, after all.”_

She didn’t answer, though he was certain she both heard him and sensed what he had. Instead, Giratina merely fell apart into shadow, waving her wing at him once to take shelter.

He didn’t make it a habit to argue, flying up high and shielding himself with his powers.  Though it might well not work against the two Psychic-type Pokémon. In short, this  probably would not go at all smoothly .

L ance’s Dragonite and Alder’s Bouffalant lead the way into the room, setting down heavily on the ground.  T he other Pokémon followed before their trainers entered the room.

“Seems Giratina is not here.” Stephen mused, looking around the barren room.

“No, it is.” Cynthia countered sharply, pointing down to the platform. “If Giratina were not here, there’d be a portal down there. There is no portal, so Giratina is here.”

He saw their Pokémon tense, scanning the room. It was the Metagross that noticed him first, snarling just a bit before getting airborne and positioning itself between the Legendary and the humans. After that, it took the Gardevoir mere moments to notice what the Steel-type had.

“What is it?”

“ _You trained your Psychic-types too well, I’d say.”_ No use in hiding any longer unless he wanted to give the impression of ill-will. Mewtwo dropped his cloaking and slowly descended to solid ground once more. From the corner of his eye he could see the coiling shadows that hid Giratina from view. Quite frankly, he was surprised that somehow they had completely missed that beacon of power. “Welcome to Giratina’s domain.”

“You’re Mewtwo.” Lance stated almost immediately. “Are you the ‘unnatural Legendary’ the twins mentioned?”

“ _How many others others do you know?_ _”_ The cloned Pokémon answered softly. _“I take it we can get right to business?”_

“Damn right we can.” Alder pointed at the purple Pokémon. “What did you do to our friends!?”

“ _What was necessary._ _”_ He glowed lightly with his power, not liking the look on several of the trainer-owned Pokémon’s faces. _“It was either this or something far worse.”_

“Do you even realize what you did to her!?” Diantha’s voice rose a few octaves. “Olympia had broken bones!” The memory of when she had found the Anistar Gymleader still haunted her.

“ _She foresaw my coming_ _and fled_ _._ _I had to pursue._ _”_ Not technically true, but best to not make them hunt through the entire region. _“Now why did you come here? You cannot tell me that you were truly hoping to just waltz in here and take them?”_

“Did you truly expect us to not do that?” Steven demanded. “They are friends, colleagues. How could we just… abandon them to this fate?”


	11. Chapter 11

“ _Common sense?_ _”_ Mewtwo countered, crossing his arms lightly. His tail flicked back and forth behind him. _“Was the warning of the twins not enough? Do you think we – I – took them because I felt like causing trouble?”_

“We don’t know what you thought, we don’t know anything after all.” Lance answered sharply. “One day we woke up and by the end of it nearly all Great Psychics were out and our Leagues are wobbling – perhaps even near collapse – because of all the fear and confusion this incident has caused.”

“Especially since some of us just dealt with some large criminal activity less than a month ago.” Diantha pointed out. “People saw the ambulance and police that I called when I found Olympia because I assumed that she’d been attacked by humans! There’s questions about that daily.”

“ _If you are not careful, there might not be anyone to call those for you._ _”_ Telepathy mixed with bone-chilling screeches as the shadows formed into a massive basilisk. In fact, they became so thick they looked more like tar, two red glowing eyes brightening part of the cavern.

“Giratina.” Cynthia breathed, her Garchomp hissing a bit and moving into a battlestance. She remembered the stories about the Legendary all too well.

“ _Humans._ _”_ The Legendary did not completely appear, remaining in her half-solid form. Her telepathy was grating in their skulls. _“One would think you would be smarter than to meddle in the affairs of Legendaries.”_

“If your affairs affect us, I think we have a right to meddle.” Alder pointed at the Legendary. “At the very least, you can tell us what was so important that you would just take them!”

“ _Art thou threatening me?_ _”_ The Dragon-type completely disregarded the Pokémon, rising dangerously close to the humans themselves. She considered it admirable that none of them did more than flinch. _“Careful what game thou choosest to play, Unova Champion… We might take offense.”_

“Well, I have already taken offense!” Diantha exploded. The stress of having found one of her closest friends and allies in the state she had Olympia, a mere week after she had been forced to deal with the pressure of dealing with Kalos’ unrest after the Team Flare-incident and now facing one of the Legendaries that had literally made the world… Suffice to say, she had run out of energy to contain herself. “Why did you do what you did to Olympia!? To the others!? Tell me!” Several of the other Champions looked at her as if she had gone crazy, but quite frankly Kalos’ most famed actress had run out of patience. “Why did you take them!?”

Mewtwo raised one eyebrow as much as he could, studying the white-clad woman that seemed close to a nervous breakdown. Giratina gave no reaction, at least until the tarlike shadow melted into the ground. Without prompting, Gardevoir started forming a Moonblast, ready to defend her trainer if need be.

The shadows that formed the Creation Trio-member completely disappeared, leaving only the Psychic-type Legendary to face the humans. He pursed his lips lightly at the realization that apparently she only now decided to go confer with Arceus about a course of action. He was certainly going to complain about that lack of foresight later. At least, he hoped that that was why the other Legendary had left to even beyond his rage.

“Where did she go?” Lance demanded, clearly attempting to draw their opponents attention away from Diantha, who had tears of frustration forming in her eye-corners.

“ _Unlike you, I do not meddle in the affairs of Legendaries._ _”_ Mewtwo’s expression softened a bit.

“I am just so… done.” Diantha grounded out. “It’s just a mess after a mess, I haven’t even finished with all the questions and public-speaking events of the Giant Rock and now this. I keep hearing about how hard this is on other people and they just look to me for support and I...”

“Calm down, dear.” Cynthia cut into her colleague’s tirade. “We know how you feel, but I think jumping at a Legendary barehanded is not going to go over well for you. Then your League has to worry not only about Olympia, but also its’ Champion.”

The Legendary decided to let them talk amongst themselves for a while, casting part of his mind outward to see if he could try find his mistress. He was actually surprised at the fact that she was seemingly returning already.

In fact, she was coming up right behind the humans… what was she doing?

“ _If it helps_ _thee_ _,_ _we_ _have been informed it’ll take a month at most.”_ The Ghost-type Legendary of Sinnoh faded through the entrance of the cave. The Dragon passed over the humans, forming above the platform in the centre of the chamber. Red eyes regarded the Fairy-type’s fading energy-signature. _“As for the reason… If we couldst share it, there would have been no need for these actions. Content yourself with that.”_

“So that’s it?” Steven looked up at the Basilisk, eyes narrowed as behind him Diantha composed herself. “Nothing aside from a time-schedule?”

“ _Feel free to try to get more._ _”_ Giratina’s telepathic voice dropped to something resembling a purr, red eyes no longer glowing. _“We do have some pent-up energy we will not mind spending. Otherwise, leave our domain.”_

“A month.” Alder muttered darkly. “And then we get them back, just like that?”

“ _Just like that.”_


	12. Chapter 12

“That can’t be all there is to it?” Cynthia demanded. “Are you honestly just going to leave it at ‘you’ll get them back in a month’? What are we supposed to tell everyone? They are asking questions, you know.”

“ _The affairs of humans do not concern us._ _”_ Giratina pointed out. _“What should we care for your politics?”_

“You caused the politics.” Alder countered, gesturing around him. “If not for you deciding to just take them, we’d not be in this situation.”

“ _Since when are humans this demanding?_ _”_ The ghost-type Legendary mused, lifting off from her seat on the platform. A ripple passed through her body and Mewtwo realized that Giratina had not gone to confer with Arceus, but merely to get the Griseous Orb. The Creation-Trio member was expecting a fight to break out. _“We have given you all we are willing to give, we suggest you be happy with that and question us no more.”_

Without needing to be prompted, the Pokémon took up position in front of their trainers, ready for battle. Mewtwo too took a battle-position, his psychic glow shining around his body.

The massive dragon roared, shadows suffusing the room around her. The air near to the red spikes rippled, looking almost like multiple gates to the Distortion World were opening.

Instead of gates, bubbles formed, the like of which Mew loved to spend her time in. Instead of the bright pink the most elusive Psychic-type Legendary so favoured however, these were blood-red like the spikes that seemed to have spawned them.

Diantha could not stop a gasp at the sight; there, in the grip of Giratina’s power, floated four people. One of them she knew well. “Olympia!”

Anistar’s Gymleader did not react to the outcry of her friend, merely floating in the bubble. The other three did not give any indication they had heard the Kalosian Champion either.

Gardevoir seized her chance. Another Psychic being Arceus knew where was one matter, but a Great Psychic right in front of her? That she could work with. Glowing almost more vibrantly than Mewtwo, the part-Fairy cast her mind outward, honing in on the friend of her trainer. She was a touch surprised that neither Legendary made any move to stop her. Were they so certain that whatever they had done to the Psychic humans would hold against her?

It felt like she tried to break down a concrete wall with her head. It actually just might hold.

Suddenly Diantha’s Pokémon felt a presence in her mind, Steven’s Metagross appearing beside her with glowing eyes.

“ _This is something of a risk.”_ The Steel-type pointed out, adding his own power behind her attempt. _“_ _If Giratina attacks over this, I’m not so sure anyone is walking out of this._ _”_

“ _I have to try._ _”_ Gardevoir countered, feeling the barrier between herself and Olympia crumbling under the combined pressure.

“ _Bold._ _”_ Mewtwo whispered softly. Without him actively resisting their attempt, they were breaking through. It would certainly be interesting to see how that would develop.

Power reverberated across the Psychic plane when the two Psychic-type Pokémon broke through the barrier holding Olympia unconscious. The Kalosian Gymleader woke with a start, gasping for a non-existent breath as the last vestiges of Mewtwo’s power faded from her mind.

“Olympia!” Diantha called again, this time being rewarded with a reaction. The purple-haired woman rolled over, moving to face her friend as well she could.

“ _Diantha…_ _You… you have to leave..._ _”_ For all that she was infuriated with the circumstances, the fact that she had felt Mewtwo’s mind every time had proclaimed that what had happened had been for good reasons had been enough to convince her. At least, for now.

“I’m not leaving without you!” Completely ignoring the massive dragon, Diantha tried to close in, only being stopped at Lance yanking her back behind their Pokémon.

“ _Trust me._ _”_ Olympia smiled faintly. _“You cannot save me, Diantha. Go.”_ She jerked forward with a cry, her spectral body cramping up as the little protection Gardevoir and Metagross had managed to erect being brushed aside like nothing. The two Psychic-types cried out at the backlash, staggering back. The other Champion-Pokémon closed ranks to protect them immediately as their trainers rushed to their sides.

“ _And that will be all._ _”_ Giratina finally spoke up. This time, her tone held a note of finality. If they didn’t leave now, they might well never.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“That did nothing.” Diantha darkly stated.

“It did something; we know that they are safe.” Steven pointed out, resting one hand on the despondent woman. “We know when they’ll be back.”

“But we can’t actually tell the anxious public that since it’d mean revealing that a bunch of Legendaries decided to… to just abduct them.” Lance countered with an annoyed undertone in his voice. “We gained nothing that will actually help in dealing with the people.” He was pacing in the room.

“But we do know we just need to buy time for a month and think of some explanation for a group-coma.” Cynthia spoke up, entering with a plate of tea- and coffeecups and some cookies. “That is something at least, Lance.”

 


	13. Chapter 13

It had started when one of them had reminisced about their Pokémon, something the others had noticed after just a few moments of unimpeded memories. This had then spiralled into them going down memory-lane.

“ _Espurr are terrible with power-control._ _”_ Olympia muttered, leaning against a flower that had randomly sprouted on their island. Her memory fluttered through their minds, making Caitlin chuckle.

It showed two Espurr – who would later evolve into her main battlers – lifting objects with their powers. Olympia herself seemed to be watching from a distance, a book open on her lap. The little Psychic-type they instinctively knew to be the female hoisted up a toy.

Being young and inexperienced however, she managed to lift part of the toy, leaving most of it resting on the ground. The growing frustration of the catlike Pokémon soon became clear when she kept failing to get the rest of it into her grip.

As this was happening, her brother seemed content to just keep swirling around the pen he had hoisted up. In fact, he was so busy that he failed to notice his sibling going from frustrated to angry. He only noticed when an outburst of anger catapulted her toy through the room.

“Oh dear...” Memory-Olympia shot up, suppressing laughter at the sight of her male Pokémon being bowled over and quite frankly being launched across the open space of the Gym Leader’s living room. “Come here.” She scooped the bawling cats up, the female having felt the fear and pain of her brother within moment of him landing on the ground.

“ _Reminds me of that time where my Bronzor ended up napping in Cynthia’s bed._ _”_ Lucian was laying on his stomach, looking for all intends and purposes like all he was missing was a book to be completely at ease. _“She never quite forgave it for giving her such a coldshock._ _I repay her by never letting her fight it_ _to get revenge_ _._ _”_

The others were treated to the memory of Cynthia throwing open a door, Bronzor in her hands and a long rant about cold Steel-types not belonging in beds in the Sinnohan winter on her lips. Even from the memory, it was clear that Lucian was only looking at her as a courtesy, his attention more on the Steel-type trying to snuggle into the Champion’s bathrobe.

“Just give it to me, Cynthia.” The lavender-haired male reached out towards the angry Champion and his young Pokémon. “And then please leave my room, it’s 1 am.”

“As if you haven’t stayed awake longer.” She untangled the Steel-type from her bathrobe, handing it over to its’ trainer. “There’s a reason the League only opens from midday onwards and its’ not just convenience...”

He didn’t deign her with an answer.

“ _You should remind her of her icecream addiction_ _next time_ _.”_ Caitlin had decided to test the literal waters and was resting in a pond of distorted water. Among other weird effects, it seemed that instead of being pushed away from a body in it, water in the Distortion World gathered to body’s inside it. _“She should have appreciated the cold.”_

“ _I’ll remember it._ _”_ The male Psychic snorted lightly. _“Though I think she might well murder me with her Garchomp if my Bronzong tries to snuggle into her bed. There’d be no space for her.”_

“ _You’re a Great Psychic. Teleport it to the top of the League Building._ _”_ Sabrina pointed out, looking up from where she had been doodling in the ground.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“This has to be the weirdest thing I have ever done.” Wulfric was reading a book, carrying only a small bag despite having gone to an entirely different region.

“I think most of us have.” Bertha was sitting beside him, the both of them waiting for the planes out of Unova and Kanto to arrive.

Despite him having come to Hoenn with his daughter, Adam had not actually taken her team and so her mother was flying them in. He had hoped that with Hoenn’s Great Psychics still active, she’d have remained unconscious for a short while. He had not been happy when Lance had been forced to tell him it’d be a month until waking still.

He looked at the bag. Aside from his own Abomasnow, all other Pokéballs in there were of Olympia. “I just hope they’ll take it well. They were beside themselves when I told them.”

The older female nodded lightly in agreement, arms crossed as she patted her own bag. “You should have seen Lucian’s library after his Bronzong found him unconscious. We’re still trying to rearrange the books back into their right places. He’ll be so annoyed when he wakes up.”

“Olympia’s not going to be happy with the contractor-bill of getting her place fixed.” The Ice-type trainer snorted briefly. “Not sure if her insurance covers ‘act of Legendary’.” His gaze darkened as he said that, eyes travelling to the direction of Rustboro City.

Bertha fell equally silent. Their Champions had not hidden any of the information they had uncovered, even if it had been precious little.


	14. Chapter 14

Steven had requested they take turn having the Pokémon see their trainers. He’d rather not risk that the four teams’ emotions start resonating with one another and then blow up the place.

“At least Rustboro is a nice city.” Shauntal stood at the window with her arms crossed. The bag with Caitlin’s team was heavier than if it was full of books. The Psychic-type trainer had looked so tiny and fragile when she last saw her. Perhaps she shouldn’t have objected to Grimsley making the journey.

“Could use a better reason to be here though.” Wulfric was sitting on one of the chairs in the hallway, hand resting on the bag that held a couple Pokéballs.

Bertha merely made a sound of agreement. The three league-members had chosen to give the mother the chance for first visit.

The writer merely grunted in acknowledgement, returning her gaze outside.

“One of you can go.” Sabrina’s mother left the room, clutching the ballrepository she had travelled with.

“Do you two mind if I go first?” Bertha rose from her seat. “Considering it was his Bronzong that found Lucian?”

“No problem.” The other two trainers watched the Kantonian woman leave after Bertha entered the room.

The older woman sighed softly at the sight of her colleague in what amounted to a glass cylinder. “Well, come on out and behave, if you please. Can’t have you blow this place up as well.”

The first two Pokémon appeared in flashes of light, the Bronzong and Girafarig promptly moving over to their trainer. She couldn’t even begin to tell what they were thinking, but she could see the glow appearing around them,

“Please don’t blow the place up.” The Earth-type trainer muttered, summoning the other Pokémon of her fellow Elite Four’s team as well. Her only answer was that they didn’t do it. That probably would be as good as she was going to get.

She had never really appreciated how much of Lucian’s control over his team came from close mental contact. They tried to remember, but it was obvious they were used to just… reach out and tap their trainer’s mind. The first time they did it had resulted in her throwing a plate through the kitchen.

Worse, despite realizing she could not reciprocate, they still got upset at the lack of an answer simply because they were so used to getting one. She joined them, looking up at her colleague.

“Well?” She knew it wouldn’t do much, but she couldn’t help but hold just a bit of hope that they’d be able to reach them. The Bronzong made a sound, moving back from the glass. “Guess not.”

The Steel-type’s red eyes met hers and despite it being an animated bell, she could see the defeat in them. “Take your time, but not too long. There’s some others that want to visit as well.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The month passed quickly, even as the anxiety increased. “How long again?” Diantha was laying on her bed, on the phone with Lance.

“If Giratina was going literal with her statement, only a couple days.” The Dragon-type Champion was at the shrine his cousin maintained in the Dragon’s Den. “I have planned to head to Hoenn in two days, you?”

“Three days. I have some filming to do in two that I couldn’t cancel without lots of questions being asked.” The actress rolled her eyes. “Film-schedules can be unforgiving, let me tell you.”

“You mentioned some trouble having to cancel that one day of filming because your capital was being attacked?” The caped man chuckled lightly, shifting on his spot on the very top of the shrine. His life depended on his cousin not noticing him there.

“Yes!” The brown-haired woman threw her free hand up, nearly kicking the air with her sandalled feet. “You’d think that ‘preventing the world from ending’ would be the single best excuse to miss a day of filming.”

“But no?” He tried to suppress the laughter boiling up in his chest, but was failing.

“But no.” She snorted, rolling over on her bed. “I had to remind him that my duty to the Region came first and if he minded, I’d walk straight off the set.”

“Alas, Great Psychics are not that important.”

“Well, Olympia protected Kalos several times in ways she only could because she was one?” Diantha mused, reaching for her drink. “Still, I’d rather not start that discussion again and hopefully three days is still enough for me to be there when she wakes up.”

“Alder mentioned he’d be taking Caitlin’s entire team.” Lance’s voice dropped when he spotted his cousin coming outside. “So they could also be there.”

“I was thinking about doing the same.” The Kalosian Champion had no such problems. “No doubt Cynthia will also do that, what with the Bronzong finding Lucian.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“ _So… when will we learn why this was necessary?”_ Olympia demanded softly, looking at the Legendary that over the month had become a near fixture with the four of them.

“ _I am trying to arrange something, but you know this all started because it had to be a secret._ _They are reluctant to then start revealing the whole thing._ _”_ Mewtwo pointed out, sitting on an island he had pulled close. He studied the four human souls beneath him. They had become clearer and less see-through since arriving here.


	15. Chapter 15

“ _Well, got some good news._ _”_ Mewtwo looked down on the four humans. _“Everything is done. You’ll be returned soon.”_

“ _Finally._ _”_ Sabrina had managed to figure out how to float on her lessened power and had settled on an island floating nearby. In fact, over the month, all four of them had strengthened and refined what power they had in this place.

“ _What of the other thing?_ _”_ Olympia was floating, her hair having returned to a semblance of it’s traditional do.

“ _Still arguing about it._ _”_ The Pokémon rolled his eyes with a small sigh. _“As said, they are reluctant.”_

“ _No choice but to wait then._ _”_ Lucian gestured lightly at the forms made of water he had created in his boredom. They moved gracefully through the air.

The Legendary nodded once, watching as the Ghost-type guardian of the dimension passed overhead. Giratina had long ago stopped giving any indication that she noticed the humans in her domain. None of them were fooled however, as the incident with the twins had proven that she was still very much aware of what they were doing.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“You’d think after years of travelling, I’d be used to jetlag.” Diantha dragged herself out of bed, looking at the woman she was sharing her hotelroom with. Her brown hair was a complete mess since she’d arrived late last night and had just fallen into bed.

Cynthia didn’t look like she’d be getting out of her bed any time soon either. With all the travelling this last month, the Champions would be suffering from jetlag for a while. “Lucian owes me a fight with his Bronzong for this.”

“What?” The brown-haired female flipped her suitcase open to get some clean clothes. “Doesn’t he challenge you like once a month for your title?”

“He refuses to use that darn Steel-type though.” Sinnoh’s Champion rolled over before dragging herself to seating. “He knows I really want to fight that bell.”

“I guess you can tell me that story during breakfast.” The Kalosian actress disappeared into the bathroom. “Or during the vacation I am definitely taking after all this.”

“Now that I can agree on.” Cynthia also reached for her suitcase. “First a battle against that Bronzong and then a week at my villa in Unova.”

“Isn’t that Caitlin’s and she lets you stay there?”

“Details.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“So how do we tell if they are waking up?” Alder looked up at the glass-tubes holding the Psychics.

“The stasis is based on mental activity. The more they wake up, the less the stasis.” Steven gestured lightly towards the subject of their talk. “You’ll see the activity increase on the screens as they wake up.”

“And probably some Pokémon will get out.” Lance gestured to the bags and ball-repositories on the small table. “Want to bet those are listening… feeling… whatever you call that… for their trainer’s mind to wake up?”

“I don’t think we need to bet.” Diantha chuckled, sitting on the chair she had dragged inside. “Well, I’ll be reading this paperwork. Warn me if I miss them waking up.”

“A+ friendship there.” Cynthia snorted lightly, tapping the glass. “But I guess it’s better than just wait. Who knows when they actually wake up.”

“Let’s be honest, Adler will start napping if it isn’t within 5 minutes.” The Kanto/Johto Champion pointed out, pulling out a book himself. “I mean, he can do it upright.”

“Why would naps exist if they were not meant to be taken?” The orange-haired Champion countered, fiddling with his own Pokéball. “Just because you can function for a week on only coffee doesn’t mean other people can.”


	16. Chapter 16

Lance was correct. Seemingly without warning, several Pokémon burst from their Pokéballs, closing in on the glass-tubes holding the Psychic-type Gym Leaders.

“Well...” Diantha put her paperwork aside, rising to join them. A small smile formed around her mouth as she watched the two catlike Pokémon paw at the glass.

“I don’t really see activity though.” Cynthia gestured to the screens that would show such a thing.

“ _Because going back at once would be detrimental._ _”_ It was a soft voice that echoed in their heads. Despite nothing showing it, Caitlin had returned to her body. _“It’s nice to see that we have a welcoming-commitee.”_

“Welcoming-commitee with quite some questions.” Alder countered, barely resisting the urge to poke her on the glass. “You better have an explanation for this.”

“ _Certainly._ _”_ Lucian answered, the feel of his mental voice propelling the metal bell he owned up and closer towards him. _“Relax, Bronzong. Behave yourself._ _I feel that the glass will not be able to stop you._ _”_

“You should see your library.” Cynthia snorted. “He exploded it.”

A wave of minor annoyance poured through the room, before something else seemed to dam it in. The air trembled briefly before it successfully disappeared completely.

“What was that?” Lance’s eyes narrowed, the feel of someone else’s emotions being more than alien to anyone not a Psychic.

“ _The price for a disembodied Psychic._ _”_ Olympia informed them. _“A good part of our barriers is formed by our body. Without it, there is nothing to reduce the impact.”_

Forming from thin air, spectral bodies appeared, the four Great Psychic’s images smiling down gently. Their Pokémon cried out in happiness, the rest of their teams now also pouring out of their Pokéballs.

By that point, the room was getting quite crowded. In the end, the Champions were forced to withdraw lest they risk that the sheer number and weight of everyone would damage the stasis-tubes.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was a mere hour later that the door was opened, without a clear hand guiding it. “Please tell me you brought us some normal clothes.” Sabrina’s mind had moved the door, she herself floating through the opening. “These are very uncomfortable.” Aside from her Alakazam, she had returned the rest of her team to their Pokéballs. She touched down gently, her hair falling down around her shoulders.

“They’re in a bag in there somewhere.” Lance gestured towards the room she had just left.

“So I see.” The Saffron Gym Leader’s eyes glowed briefly, before her clothes changed with a flash. She stretched, rolling her shoulders. “Much better.”

“You better be grateful I assisted you, otherwise you’d be taking Caitlin’s outfit.” Olympia was preceded by her two Meowstic, the two catlike Pokémon almost bouncing in the empty air with their happiness. “And I am not sure that would have suited you.”

“Or fit!” The Unovean Psychic called from the room. “Ah, this is so much better than being in a coma.”

“I think that is easy to achieve.” Cynthia pointed out dryly. “Now can you tell us why you ended up in it though?” She only spared a brief glance around before continuing. “Why did a bunch of legendaries abduct you!?”

“I do not know what you are talking about.” Lucian adjusted his sleeve as he joined the two females outside. “Cynthia, the very notion is preposterous. Not to mention worrying.”

For a bit, it looked like the Sinnoh-Champion might jump at her Elite in retaliation, but Diantha stopped her. “What did happen then, Lucian?”

“A disturbance in the ether. Deep but powerful.” Olympia answered her instead. “Only to be felt by those most sensitive to these matters, but felt profoundly by those.”

“We feared the twins would not be able to withstand it...” Caitlin finally joined them as well, combing her hair with her fingers. “So we shielded them, to our own detriment.”

“Olympia tried to experiment, and blew up her house.” Sabrina smirked. “A-plus control there, dearie.”

“At least I managed to try something, unlike you lot who keeled over immediately.” Anistar’s Gym Leader might have snorted a bit at that statement. “I wonder what it says about your powerlevels.”

Their reaction might have been best described as three arrows of insult and annoyance. The purple-haired female merely smiled serenely, brushing them aside.

“Anyway.” Lucian turned to the Champions. “Regardless of any personal shielding-abilities, it was quite the mental hit. Sorry about that. Also, we’re taking a vacation.”

Cynthia might have cussed him out after that one though.

 


	17. Chapter 17

“Pinwheel is a real maze.” Lenora looked at the group that had visited her during their vacation. She could swear that the air was trembling with all six in front of her. “And you have never gone through it before. You are liable to get lost.”

“If it comes down to it, we can just teleport to the nearest person we know.” Caitlin watched Lucian work his way through the Nacrene Gym Leader’s library. “We could literally remodel the place without anyone noticing.”

“Maybe we already did.” Tate chuckled softly. “Maybe yesterday Pinwheel was just nice and straight, who knows?” His sister giggled at

“I can already tell that that discussion would hurt my head, so how about we don’t?” The green-haired woman muttered. “Please don’t do that. Or at least also fix all the maps and the like while you’re at it.”

“Obviously.” Kalos’ Great Psychic was levitating one of the Fossil’s in the air in front of her, eyes glowing as she she studied it. “Though I suppose not doing that would be interesting.”

“Well, at least Lenora knows who to complain to.” Sabrina pointed out. “Shall we head out? I feel like it still might be a good distance to our destination.”

After bidding their farewell to Lenora and her husband, the six meandered out of the museum and headed west into the vast forest between Nacrene en Castelia city.

“ _I do hope it’s not too far. Olympia might get stuck in the underbrush then._ _”_ Lucian tilted his head lightly towards the Kalosian’s cape and heeled shoes.

“ _Levitation is an option, you know._ _”_ In answer, she took to the air, flying along with the group. The grass parted before her.

“ _I think that even that might get tricky in a bit._ _”_ A new voice echoed in their minds, one they had come to know well over the last few weeks.

“ _Mewtwo._ _”_ Sabrina acknowledged him first. _“Are we still on, or should we pass through the forest?”_

“ _You are still on. Assuming you swear to keep the secret._ _”_ The Psychic Legendary answered, a trace of mirth in his mind. _“Again, this is supposed to be hidden, not known to Man.”_

“ _On pain of death, yes._ _”_ It was a dry acknowledgement of fact, despite its’ sentiment. _“Where to?”_

“ _In roughly three-hundred meters, take a sharp right. Subtly, preferably._ _”_ Mewtwo informed them. _“Then it’s just straight ahead.”_

“ _Alright._ _”_ Olympia set down on solid ground again, adjusting her cape. “Should we get our Pokémon out? They’d appreciate the freedom, no doubt.”

“Certainly.” Lucian reached for his Pokéballs. _“And no doubt you intend to have one of them rush off into the forest as the excuse for us going there?”_

“ _Of course.”_ Caitlin snorted, releasing her own teammember. “Enjoy the fresh air, Gothitelle.”

“Enjoy indeed.” In several more flashes, the rest of their Pokémon appeared, floating beside their trainers down the forested road leading to Castelia City. _“Haunter, if you please.”_

At the order of its’ trainer, Sabrina’s Ghost-type giggled. It bumped against several of the Psychic-type Pokémon, teasing and challenging them to play with it. Olympia’s Meowstic took it up on the challenge and a chase started. Very conveniently, they rounded a tree and headed into the forest just where Mewtwo had told their trainers to go.

“You need to keep your Ghost-type under control.” Olympia muttered. “It has chased my Meowstic out of range already.”

Sabrina snorted, crossing her arms as she turned towards the forest. “Maybe you need to relearn fun, old woman.” Not waiting for an answer, Kanto’s Gym Leader followed after their Pokémon.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

“Can’t sense a thing.” Liza mused, bending a bush out of her way. “Not even Mewtwo, who by all rights should be here.”

They were making their way slowly but steadily through the underbrush. By all accounts, they could have gotten miles away from the frequented paths. At least, it had been over two hours since they left the main road.

“Considering it’s a big secret, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are shielding it all.” Olympia had started floating almost as soon as they left the path. True to Lucian’s statement, her cape and shoes were not meant for strolls into the wild. Her Meowstic were orbiting her like little moons. “He’ll hopefully tell us if we turn the wrong way.”

“I just hope he isn’t tricking us.” Lucian’s outfit was hardly better for the wilds than hers, but he contented himself with occasionally stepping on solidified air rather than completely float along. “I would much have preferred a simple no to that.”

“ _Not to worry._ _You are almost there._ _”_ The Psychic Legendary spoke up. _“I half suspected you’d be able to pierce my shielding...”_

“ _Perhaps we could have brute-forced it, but that would be rude._ _”_ Caitlin was simply walking, all troublesome bushes or pools of mud simply moving aside as she approached them.

The Pokémon now became visible in the distance, his purple form standing out from the scenery of the forest.

“ _This way.”_ A wall of thorns and brambles rose in front of them. It looked impenetrable, but this close, they could sense the illusion that formed it. At least, most of it.

 


End file.
